I read a bit further, yes, exactly where I would be...
I looked at what time it was supposed to be happening... I checked the time here... mmm that's about right.
I turned my head 90 degrees, and I could see, through the clouds, that the sun had almost disappeared. It was just a small sliver of sunlight that I could see on the underside. I wasn't sure if it was the sun or the moon, but then with a moment's reflection I realised that with a solar eclipse it's, of course, both! I'd always wanted to see a solar eclipse, so I was thankful that I had been woken early.
Then the sky went darker than I've seen even thunderous storm clouds darken the sky. It was eerie - we could see that there was bright sunlight still lighting the clouds on the horizon. Some people screamed as the sun disappeared. Some made their Hindu religious wailing noises. Then I could see the ring around the sun before it disappeared behind the clouds.
The darkness remained for about 3 minutes. It was a long time to be in that dark-but-daytime state. (Imagine the three hours of Matthew 27:45!)
Then, in the course of about 30 seconds we returned to what felt like full daytime (but of course the sun was still mostly hidden). It made us realise again how dark it had really been.
I asked my friend later what people thought about it, she said that people aren't scared, but they do think it's something unclean, and that after a solar eclipse they clean all of their plates and pots and pans to purify them.
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